GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
If I were to ask “where is your head”, how would you respond? Would you give me the obvious answer and point to that thing attached to your neck? Or would you ponder at how this question is inappropriate especially because we remember the beheading of St. John the Baptist today? How many of us would point to our hearts or, more specifically, to Christ Who dwells within our hearts? As a small tangent, one thing you learn during Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is that if you can take control of someone’s head, then you can control the whole person. Meaning, if you grab someone by the head and move it, the body will follow. So I must ask again, “where is your head?”
You see, St. John never lost his head, for his head was truly Christ and he followed his Lord and preached the truth even until his final breath. Herod, on the other hand, had lost his head when he made his promise to the daughter of Herodias. He was no longer in control and allowed the daughter to make such a terrible decision on his behalf. Had he any authority to govern himself, he could have denied her request and asked her to name another. Yet that was not the case. With his eyes, the temptation grew within him. And with his mouth, he acted upon that temptation. This is why the Lord says to Cain in Genesis that “sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
When we entertain temptation, we have allowed sin to become our head, our governing entity that will work for our destruction. Christ is the one who offers us a way out of this. When He becomes our head, when we follow after Christ, then we become free from this bondage under sin and truly become free. This is why the Jesus Prayer is so important, for it allows us to get our head back to where it belongs. I mean, we can have Christ at the center of our life when we begin to practice saying the Jesus Prayer.
The goal for the thought processes of Orthodox Christians is not a mere removal of all thoughts. Christ Himself speaks about how removing one demon without filling that hole with something good, will allow 7 more demons to take its place. Therefore, through the usage of the Jesus Prayer, we can remove all other thoughts and can focus on the one freeing thought of Christ our Lord. Saint Hesychios the Priest from the Philokalia writes, “Vigilance acts like doorkeepers and bar entry to evil thoughts; it allows us to fix one's gaze on heaven and to pay no attention to anything material.” With this said, it is not so simple as reciting the Jesus Prayer. The prayer must be done from the heart, with a true desire for Him to abide fully within you. But it is through that wonderful prayer that vigilance is obtained for Saint Hesychios writes elsewhere that, “If you really wish to cover your evil thoughts with shame, to be still and calm, and to watch over your heart without hindrance, let the Jesus Prayer cleave to your breath, and in a few days you will find that this is possible.”
If you wish to keep your head, be like St. John the Baptist who never once forsook God. Be like the man whom Christ admires saying “among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.” Uphold constant vigilance within your heart and desire for God to be that governing factor in your life. Do not let temptation and sin be the things that decide how you are to act. Do not lose your head as king Herod had when he allowed others to make decisions for him. Be strong and firm in the Faith, and keep praying “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner,” from within your hearts